Ted Sanders Just Keeps Rolling Along

He's The Voice Of The Bicyclist In Chicago Area

December 04, 1994|By Lynn Garrett. Special to the Tribune.

People decades younger get tired just thinking about his schedule. Ted Sanders, 71, bicycles an average of 170 miles per week; one recent Saturday he rode 100 miles. Over the summer he logged 1,800 miles, from Illinois to Maryland to Michigan through Wisconsin and home again to Highland Park.

When he's not on his bicycle, Sanders uses a computer, fax, modem and telephone to work with transportation officials and fellow members of the three bicycling-advocacy groups in which he holds offices. He also speaks to a variety of conservation, advocacy and community groups.

"Bicycles are the most efficient and cleanest vehicle there is," said Sanders, who began cycling in 1984. A seven-year member of the League of American Bicyclists (formerly known as the League of American Wheelmen), he now serves as vice president and director for Illinois. He helped found the League of Illinois Bicyclists in 1992 and has served on the board for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation for six years.

Sanders believes passionately in bicycling as a viable component in Illinois' transportation mix, and he puts his body and his time where his mouth is. "When you realize that half of the trips made by automobiles are five miles or less, bicycles offer an area like Chicago the opportunity to do away with a lot of the pollution caused by automobiles," Sanders said.

In addition to his weekend rides and longer trips, he uses the bicycle as an "everyday machine," riding to the store or on other errands. "I find it very enjoyable and a good way to get some exercise. It's a friendly machine; when you're riding, people will stop and talk to you. And I'm involved in groups with other bicyclists, so I meet a lot of great people."

More than an enthusiastic hobbyist, Sanders has been a key figure in the movement to have bicycling recognized and accommodated as a valid means of transportation in Illinois.

Craig Williams is a special-programs manager at the Illinois Department of Transportation in Springfield, working primarily with bicycle and pedestrian programs for the state. "In 1989 Ted and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation asked IDOT to reconvene an Interagency Bikeways Council, a group of state agencies that deal with bicycle issues," Williams said. "They had not met for several years, and he urged the state to rekindle that meeting process to encourage a coalition of effort in bicycling-related issues."

As a result of his efforts, the council reconvened and came up with a 14-point program to encourage biking in Illinois.

Sanders was instrumental in forming the League of Illinois Bicyclists in 1992 and now serves as executive director. "He had worked very closely with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, and they made some very strong strides in improving the environment for bicycling in the Chicago area," Williams said. "Ted wanted to do the same thing downstate. He took charge because he knew it wasn't getting done, and his efforts have been taken up even down here in Springfield."

In part because of Sanders' leadership, Williams said, "Illinois has taken its place alongside a number of other states that are on the road to being more friendly toward bicyclists and bicycle transportation. Ted has recruited and trained advocates in each major metropolitan area in downstate Illinois."

Williams added that transportation officials in other states have complained about the difficulty of working with bicycling advocates who are unreasonable in their demands and unpleasant in their methods. "But Ted's not a radical or a wide-eyed enthusiast," Williams said. "He's very deliberate, but he's tactful and reasonable. He knows what government is like and how the channels of communication work."

One of the downstate advocates that Sanders recruited is Karl Kohlrus, president of the Springfield Bicycle Club. "When Ted started the League of Illinois Bicyclists, we became the only state that had its own organization as a subsidiary of LAB," Kohlrus said. "Ted pulled the whole state together in these efforts. He is totally dedicated to bicycling."

Said Steve Albertson, president of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, "Ted saw a need to strengthen the national organization through local involvement. He got involved in LAB at a time when they were rebuilding and reorganizing, and he's done a very good job of catalyzing the interests of bicyclists throughout the state. That was the beginning of a whole bicycle movement that has brought Illinois to the point where it leads the country in funding for bicycle projects and is being looked at as a model in many cases."

Does Albertson encounter many 71-year-olds who put in as much mileage as Sanders does? "No! I hope I'll be doing that at his age. I wish I was doing that now! It's more than a hobby for him, it's a passion. When someone has that kind of passion, it's contagious."